In computer networks, a number of network stations are typically interconnected via a communications medium. For example, Ethernet 802.3 is a commonly used local area network (LAN) scheme in which multiple stations are connected to a shared or dedicated serial data path. These stations often communicate with a switch or some other network device located between the data path and the stations connected to that path. The switch typically controls the communication of packets and includes logic for receiving and forwarding packets to their appropriate destinations.
Conventional network switches typically include a forwarding engine that operates upon received packets to determine the priority of the packets. For example, high priority packets may include packets that require lower access latency, such as packets destined for a multimedia application. Low priority packets may include any other types of packets.
In some conventional switches, the process for determining priority includes analyzing packet header information to generate the packet priority information for the packet. The forwarding engine, in this case, determines priority for each received packet independently. The forwarding engine does not use information regarding previous priority determinations to identify the packet priority information for a subsequent packet.